Duff magic rescues Republic

Getting shirty: Damien Duff is congratulated by John O'Shea

By Clive White at the Lokomotiv Stadium, Tbilisi

12:01AM GMT 30 Mar 2003

Georgia (0) 1 Rep of Ireland (1) 2

The Republic of Ireland finally got their European Championship campaign back on track here last night, but left it desperately late to do so. A goal from Gary Doherty with five minutes remaining has made the Irish believe they might yet salvage something after a disastrous start to their qualifying programme.

It looked as if the damage done in those initial two defeats under Mick McCarthy were beyond repair for the new manager, Brian Kerr, when Shay Given uncharacteristically blundered after an hour to allow Georgia an equaliser direct from an acutely-angled free-kick. But a player like Damien Duff, who had opened the scoring for Ireland, carries a threat until the final kick of a match and he ensured that the new manager's first competitive match ended on a triumphant note with some typical wizardry.

Of much greater concern than the result was the safety of Ireland's players following an incident just prior to the Georgia equaliser when a pen-knife was allegedly thrown in the direction of Kevin Kilbane. Georgia players moved quickly to try to hide the implement, and a couple of bottles thrown by the crowd, from the Greek referee which resulted in a brief skirmish between players from both sides, but the incident may not escape the attention of UEFA. Kyros Vassaras, the referee, took possession of the knife and the top of a broken vodka bottle which was thrown at the goalpost following Ireland's winner, shattering glass all around the goalmouth.

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The selection of Lee Carsley wide on the right of Ireland's midfield may have raised a few eyebrows but it did not take long for the player, out of favour at Everton, to make a worthy contribution to the resurrection of his team's European ambitions. At least four other players, had they been fit, might have entered Kerr's thinking before Carsley, but the Ireland manager had every right to be pleased with his selection as the Irish took a 19th-minute lead.

Concerns about where an Ireland goal might come from without the presence of Robbie Keane, who missed this game following the death of his father, soon evaporated when the frailties of the home team's defence became apparent. Not short on technical ability, Georgia had started confidently with two wide men hugging the touchline and the Derby playmaker, Georgi Kinkladze, being allowed a little too much room to probe for openings.

Then an innocuous back-heel by Duff exposed a soft underbelly as the Georgia defence went one way and Kilbane went the other on an unimpeded route to goal. Had he been more adept with his right foot, the Sunderland midfielder might have tested Giorgi Lomai in the home goal more seriously. No matter. A minute later Duff did when he cut inside to unleash a fierce left-footer which the goalkeeper was relieved to push over the bar.

It proved to be a softening-up process. Four minutes later Ireland went ahead to the surprise of a 25,000 crowd who had believed the Irish were a spent force after their wretched start to this campaign. Kilbane cut inside, but this time chose to cross the ball to the far post instead of shoot. Carsley had time to chest the ball down before shooting against a post. The rebound fell conveniently for Duff, who prodded it home.

But for a fortuitously placed Georgia defender Ireland might have doubled their advantage a few minutes later. This time it was John O'Shea who made progress down the left before crossing. Matt Holland met the ball on the volley but his shot cannoned off a defender.

Next it was the turn of Doherty - with a shimmy of which Duff would have approved - to befuddle the right side of the Georgia defence and, had the referee spotted the hand of Giorgi Shashiashvili which pulled back the Tottenham player, Ireland might have had the chance to increase their lead from the penalty spot. That would have been all that the Georgia goalkeeper needed, judging by the way he fumbled a harmless toe-poke from the same Irish player a short while later. Evidently, he was still suffering from the earlier pressure.

Carsley had the perfect opportunity to make himself a real hero when Duff sent him through on goal in the opening seconds of the second half, but Lomaia saved his shot.

The substitution of the ineffective former Newcastle favourite, Temuri Ketsbaia, with the lively Real Sociedad striker, Giorgi Demetradze, was clearly beneficial to the home side and Ireland came increasingly under pressure. This culminated with Levan Kobiashvili's free-kick, which should have been no problem for a goalkeeper of Given's quality but beat him at his near post.

After that the Irish were on the ropes and it was as much as they could do to hang on to their draw. And then, after 85 minutes, Ireland broke away to force a corner. Duff's initial kick was cleared but the Blackburn man got another chance to torment the opposition. This time he beat two players before crossing to the far post where Gary Breen headed back for Doherty to score the easiest goal he will probably get at this level.